


Painted into a Corner

by antigrav_vector



Series: Spiraling Ever Upward [10]
Category: Captain America (MCU), Iron Man (MCU), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual James Rhodes, Bisexual Tony Stark, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, M/M, Multi, POV Tony Stark, Tabletop Gaming, Threesome - M/M/F, flirting but with dice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 11:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17600360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Rhodey was still laughing his ass off over the way he'd met Nat's boyfriends, which was annoying. Now they were hitting on him, and he couldn't respond without pissing off his girlfriend or theirs, which was even worse.





	Painted into a Corner

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed, but thanks go out to [Quarra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quarra) for helping me not FUBAR all the D&D stuff. But no real knowledge of D&D is required to follow the action, here.
> 
> Since I've finally finished the big bang drafts in my queue, I'm back to working on other things for a little while. That means y'all get a new installment of my college AU of my OT6 fic series [Like trying to stop an avalanche](https://archiveofourown.org/series/380455).

So far, their campaign had been going fairly well, all things considered, Tony mused. None of them had died yet, and the enemies they'd come up against -- while at times clearly designed to take out his character -- hadn't been so stupidly overpowered as to cause them too much trouble as a group.

But that didn't mean there weren't awkward moments. Like this one. Tony saw it coming before it happened and wanted to sigh.

"I ask Iron Man to carry me up to the roof of the nearby tavern," Bucky said, already reaching for his dice.

Natasha smiled. "What's your dexterity modifier?"

"Plus five, and I have a plus twelve to my acrobatics, if that helps," Bucky's voice held a bit of smugness as he let his d20 clatter onto the table. "Which means I roll a 29."

Steve grinned broadly and muttered 'nice'. Natasha considered the situation, then told him, "You leap upwards, picking exactly the right moment, and land perfectly in Iron Man's arms bridal style as he flies past, making him wobble, but you shift your weight enough to prevent any accidents."

Tony snorted. "Well now what am I supposed to do with my blushing bride?" He asked wryly, getting snickers from most of the others. "I fly him over to the tavern roof as requested and drop him off there before going back to defending the Captain from the airborne gun platforms."

"Roll a strength check and a dex check. If you have grapple, add it to your strength," Natasha replied smoothly.

"Fifteen," Tony told her, having rolled his own dice, "and twelve."

He winced. Damn it. He was likely to--

"You take a couple of hits to your back and shoulders, but only the one on your left side causes more than superficial damage. Your arm is pinned in the position it was in when you got hit by dented armour plating."

Yep. That would make things a bit more difficult.

Bucky gave him a considering look, apparently debating saying something about the bridal carry, but decided not to break character, and then it was Steve's turn, and the exchange faded into the background as the battle wore on.

By the time the session finally drew to a close, two hours later, Tony was pretty sure everyone but him had forgotten about it.

A couple of weeks went by, and nothing else like that happened, but Tony found himself having to keep from letting his character flirt with Steve's a couple of times, which had been awkward for him and hilarious for everyone else.

And then Steve's character wound up taking a turn at leaping into Iron Man's arms. Well, involuntarily, but still.

"You catch the blow on your shield," Natasha said, a smirk tugging at her lips, "but the force knocks you backwards off the cliff edge."

Shit, that wasn't good. Not at all. Tony eyed the map. "I'm nearby," he said, rolling up his metaphorical sleeves. "I dive after him and try to catch him."

Natasha considered that. "Alright, that means you need to give me three dexterity rolls."

That could get messy. Three rolls in a row that succeeded? Especially given that his character wasn't a champion of dexterity. Strength, sure, thanks to the armour he wore and his own base stats. But dex was trickier. He had a little bit of a modifier, but not a huge one. "Alright, lets see. After my dex mod, that puts me at....seventeen, eleven, and fifteen."

That made Natasha smirk. She rolled a few dice behind her screen and the smirk grew. "You dive after the Captain and manage to grab his hand, but his shield hits the back of your helmet and dazes you for a few seconds. You don't lose your grip on him, but you bounce off the cliff face and almost fall into the canyon together. With moments to spare, you right yourself and fling yourself back over the edge of the cliff face, a couple hundred meters from the fight. Your armour is damaged enough to make continuing to fight unwise, and you lose ten HP as a result of your rescue."

Bucky jumped in. "I take advantage of the distraction their little display causes to shoot the techno-ogre in the face."

"You know the drill. Give me your attack," Natasha prompted him.

"Ten, and... twenty-five," Bucky glared at his d20 as though it had betrayed him.

"You fumble your gun, distracted by the Captain's fall, but catch it in time to follow through and disable the techno-ogre with a shot to its eye, bringing it down with a crash."

Rhodey snickered at them. "Do I need to roll to tease the Captain and the Sarge mercilessly about the way they keep swooning into Tony's arms?"

"No," Natasha told him, sounding very pleased with the idea.

"I'll help War Machine," Pepper added. "This is too funny."

Tony had no idea what to say, so he shrugged and let it happen. "They brought that on themselves," he put in, trying not to smile at the slightly rueful expressions on their faces. 

"That wasn't strictly voluntary swooning," Steve protested, making Bucky laugh at him.

"Guess not," he agreed, "but you do look good in his arms."

Tony considered burying his face in his hands.

This was getting the point where it wasn't worth it. How the hell was he supposed to keep himself from crossing lines that would piss off Natasha or Pepper -- or worse, both -- when Natasha's boyfriends were the ones flirting with him?


End file.
